


bright like the sun

by sebfish



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Getting Together, M/M, Magical Realism, Pittsburgh Penguins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-16
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2019-06-26 16:33:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15667026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sebfish/pseuds/sebfish
Summary: It starts out as a low background noise that Sidney barely notices, a soft continual indistinct sound laid over the usual soundscape of his day. It’s almost like a ringing in his ears but softer, and he wouldn’t think about it except that it doesn’t stop.





	bright like the sun

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Squidbittles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squidbittles/gifts).



> I chose to write Sid/Geno for the prompts "I'm infected by the sound" and "(732): come over i need a lifeguard for my shower". I don't know if this ended up being anything like what you expected, but I had a lot of fun writing it.
> 
> Unbeta'd, all mistakes are mine. Disclaimer that this is a fictional representation of the people mentioned and no harm is meant.

It starts out as a low background noise that Sidney barely notices, a soft continual indistinct sound laid over the usual soundscape of his day. It’s almost like a ringing in his ears but softer, and he wouldn’t think about it except that it doesn’t stop.

“Do you hear that?”

He asks Nate at the end of the day, down on the dock, when the only noise should be the soft lapping of the lake and the usual summer outdoor noises. It’s a nice end-of-the-day ritual for the summer, sitting down here with beers after dinner to watch the sun set.

“Hear what?” Nate says, sipping his beer. He’s not even looking at Sidney, but staring out at the sunset throwing gold across the water. It’s bright and beautiful, like it has been almost every day that they’ve sat here.

“Never mind,” Sidney says, and Nate shrugs and leaves him to it.

It could be his concussion, maybe, but it doesn’t feel like that, less a ringing in his ears and more just a sound he keeps hearing. He feels like he should recognize it, but it’s not quite loud enough for that.

They sit outside until the sky is dark and starry and the breeze off the lake is starting to get chilly. He tells himself he’ll tell the team doctors back in Pittsburgh if it’s not any better by then.

 

 

 

He can ignore the sound for the most part, just another background noise that’s easily tuned out as he goes about his day, and he doesn’t really think about it again through the end of summer training and travelling back to Pittsburgh.

He gets back early enough that most of the guys aren’t there yet, takes some time to settle back into his house and his routines. He goes grocery shopping because that’s something he’s always liked to do for himself, and takes a few pictures with fans while he’s out.

He doesn’t think about it until the day that he wakes up and notices it again, because the sound is just a little bit louder and clearer, just a little closer to being distinct.

The noise bothers him all day, still quiet on the edge of hearing but slowly becoming distinct enough that he can almost make it out.

By the time he goes to bed, he almost thinks it sounds like a heartbeat.

 

 

 

Sidney’s sitting in his stall on the first day of training camp when the sound hits him like a rush, a steady _thump-thump_ that’s most definitely a heartbeat and hits him just before Geno tumbles into the room in a flurry of limbs and excited greetings. He just knows, then, even if he’s not sure how.

The room is bustling enough that it’s easy to focus on taping his socks and ignore the clear sound of Geno’s heartbeat.

A pair of feet push into his field of vision and Geno’s standing in front of him, summer-tan and bright around the edges like he’s been soaking up the sun all summer. He’s grinning, warm and bright, and it’s like basking in the sunshine.

“Hi Sid,” Geno says, “good summer?”

“Yeah,” he says, tipping his face up and grinning back. “I’m glad to be back though, I missed everyone.”

“Miss me?” Geno says, grin changing to something soft and teasing.

“Of course,” he says, rolling his eyes. He pokes Geno with his socked foot. “Go change before you’re late.”

“So bossy,” Geno says, but he’s still grinning as he wanders off to bother Horny instead.

The sound of his heartbeat is comforting, like the smell of the locker room and the sound of ice, something already ingrained in him so deep that it’s a part of him.

Maybe he hasn’t been as worried about it as he should be because it makes sense, like the feeling of fresh ice under his blades makes sense, like the way Geno looks at him across the locker room, fond and bright.

 

 

 

Sidney ignores it for the most part, focusing on training camp and then preseason and then the beginning of the regular season. It’s the same as it’s been, for the most part, and the familiarity settles him like a well-worn pair of skates.  

He doesn’t play on a line with Geno enough for it to be useful, but there’s a moment when they’re on the power play and he hears the quick thump of his heartbeat before he sees him, and slings the puck back in his direction before he can think about it.

It’s a blind pass that shouldn’t even work until it does, the clean sound of puck hitting tape and sailing cleanly into the back of the net with a beautiful wrister.

He slams into Geno and he’s grinning, and Geno is so bright with happiness that he’s almost blinding.

 

 

 

He’s drunk enough that it’s hilarious, sitting on the floor of his shower surrounded by all the shower products he’d knocked off the shelf in a flailing effort to stop his fall as he slid down. He hadn’t actually planned on getting drunk, but it had been a good game and he’d let himself get swept up in the celebratory mood after, and, well.

“Sid!” Geno chides, clearly torn between concern and laughing at him now that he’d realized that it wasn’t the emergency he’d burst into the bathroom for.

Sidney can hear the thump of his heartbeat slow down.

“I’m fine,” Sidney giggles, leaning against the wall of the shower. “Floor was closer than I thought it was.”

“I’m worry you hit head,” Geno says, tone fond and exasperated, reaching past him to turn off the water.

Sidney watches as Geno starts picking up the spilled toiletries, carefully stacking them back on the shower shelf. Geno looks good like this, still dressed from the game and going out to drink after, sleeves rolled up and a fond smile on his face.

“Maybe better if you shower tomorrow,” Geno says, suddenly wrapping a towel around him and pulling him up to stand. “Think you need lifeguard for shower if you want to shower tonight.”

Sidney giggles at the thought and halfheartedly tries to dry himself off. Geno huffs and pulls the towel from his unresisting hands, roughly drying him off and steering him in the direction of his bedroom.

“Not smart to drink with rookies, you know, they drink more than smart.”  

“Yeah,” Sidney says, somehow managing to pull on the boxers that Geno throws at him before Geno steers him towards bed.

“I can hear your heartbeat,” he mumbles, but he’s on the bed now, letting Geno pull the covers over him. The sound of his heartbeat is soothing like this, and he wants to ask him to stay.

“Night, Sid,” is all Geno says, and then the room is suddenly dark as he closes the door behind him.

 

 

 

“You safe to shower?” Geno asks the next day after practice, looking a lot fresher than Sidney feels. He’s managed to power through practice  through a heavy application of caffeine and Gatorade, but he’s wiped enough now that a nap after lunch sounds like a really good idea.

“I’m fine,” he says, scowling. He’s a little embarrassed, to be honest, but it can’t be helped at this point. He works on taking off his gear, piece by piece, pulling the tape off his socks and rolling it up neatly.  

“Well,” Geno says, “let me know if you need help.” He’s laughing, the asshole, and Sidney throws his sweaty towel at him in retaliation.

Geno kissed him once, when they were young and stupid, drunk on champagne and the high of their first Cup win. He’d been sticky and sweaty and so bright Sidney could hardly bear to look at him.

They didn’t talk about it in so many words, afterward, but Geno had stopped him in the hallway of somebody’s house, days later, hand on his wrist and eyes serious.

“Tell me when you ready,” he’d said, and brushed a kiss over the corner of Sidney’s mouth. “I can wait.”

“Okay,” Sidney had said, throat dry, and Geno had just smiled and left to join the rest of the party.

It’s been years and two Cups since, and the inexplicable sound of Geno’s heartbeat in his ears, and he watches Geno laugh across the room, bright as the summer, and thinks that maybe he’s finally ready. He’s been circling Geno for as long as he’s known him, orbiting around the brightness of him like a planet around the sun.

He waits until he’s home later, curled up on his couch after lunch, and types something into his phone and sends it. The sound of Geno’s heartbeat steadies him as he waits, heart in his throat.

 

 

 

“Lifeguard for shower, Sid, really?” Geno’s voice is deep and amused, backing him up against the front door and pushing into his space, hands all over Sidney like he can’t get enough of him.

“I thought it was funny,” Sidney says, but he’s too happy to do anything but laugh. He’d be more embarrassed if it hadn’t have worked like he’d hoped, brought Geno over here chirping him and glowing like the sun.

“Sid,” Geno says again, voice reverent, bringing his hand up to cup Sidney’s jaw. “You mean it?”

“Yeah,” Sidney says, feeling choked, “I’m ready. You don’t need to wait any more.”

Geno dips down and kisses him then, deeply and firmly, and he’s so bright that Sidney can see the light even with his eyes closed, and his heartbeat is loud and clear in his ears.


End file.
